Title 26 — Internal Revenue CodeRelease 119-73
§4462 Definitions and Special Rules
Title 26 › Subtitle Subtitle D— Miscellaneous Excise Taxes › Chapter 36— CERTAIN OTHER EXCISE TAXES › Subchapter A— Harbor Maintenance Tax › § 4462
Summary
These definitions and exemptions shape the harbor maintenance tax, which applies when commercial cargo is loaded or unloaded at a U.S. port. A "port" is any channel or harbor open to public navigation that is not an inland waterway, but it does not count if no federal money has gone to it since 1977 or if federal law deauthorized it before 1985. "Commercial cargo" includes paying passengers but not ship fuel, ship supplies, or fish caught at sea and never landed. Ferries that mainly carry passengers and their vehicles on a regular daily schedule are not commercial vessels, so they are not taxed. Several shipments are exempt. Cargo moving between the U.S. mainland and Alaska, Hawaii, or U.S. possessions is not taxed, and Alaskan crude oil does not get this break. Exported cargo, cargo on vessels that already pay the inland waterway fuel tax, the federal government, and certified humanitarian or development aid cargo from nonprofits are also exempt. The same cargo on the same vessel is taxed only once, and simply moving cargo around inside a port is not taxed. The tax is collected and enforced like a customs duty, not like a regular income tax.
Full Legal Text
Title 26, §4462
Internal Revenue Code — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)For purposes of this subchapter—
(1)The term “port use” means—
(A)the loading of commercial cargo on, or
(B)the unloading of commercial cargo from,
(2)(A)The term “port” means any channel or harbor (or component thereof) in the United States, which—
(i)is not an inland waterway, and
(ii)is open to public navigation.
(B)The term “port” does not include any channel or harbor with respect to which no Federal funds have been used since 1977 for construction, maintenance, or operation, or which was deauthorized by Federal law before 1985.
(C)The term “port” shall include the channels of the Columbia River in the States of Oregon and Washington only up to the downstream side of Bonneville lock and dam.
(3)(A)The term “commercial cargo” means any cargo transported on a commercial vessel, including passengers transported for compensation or hire.
(B)The term “commercial cargo” does not include—
(i)bunker fuel, ship’s stores, sea stores, or the legitimate equipment necessary to the operation of a vessel, or
(ii)fish or other aquatic animal life caught and not previously landed on shore.
(4)(A)The term “commercial vessel” means any vessel used—
(i)in transporting cargo by water for compensation or hire, or
(ii)in transporting cargo by water in the business of the owner, lessee, or operator of the vessel.
(B)(i)The term “commercial vessel” does not include any ferry engaged primarily in the ferrying of passengers (including their vehicles) between points within the United States, or between the United States and contiguous countries.
(ii)The term “ferry” means any vessel which arrives in the United States on a regular schedule during its operating season at intervals of at least once each business day.
(5)(A)The term “value” means, except as provided in regulations, the value of any commercial cargo as determined by standard commercial documentation.
(B)In the case of the transportation of passengers for hire, the term “value” means the actual charge paid for such service or the prevailing charge for comparable service if no actual charge is paid.
(A)cargo loaded on a vessel in a port in the United States mainland for transportation to Alaska, Hawaii, or any possession of the United States for ultimate use or consumption in Alaska, Hawaii, or any possession of the United States,
(B)cargo loaded on a vessel in Alaska, Hawaii, or any possession of the United States for transportation to the United States mainland, Alaska, Hawaii, or such a possession for ultimate use or consumption in the United States mainland, Alaska, Hawaii, or such a possession,
(C)the unloading of cargo described in subparagraph (A) or (B) in Alaska, Hawaii, or any possession of the United States, or in the United States mainland, respectively, or
(D)cargo loaded on a vessel in Alaska, Hawaii, or a possession of the United States and unloaded in the State or possession in which loaded, or passengers transported on United States flag vessels operating solely within the State waters of Alaska or Hawaii and adjacent international waters.
(2)For purposes of this subsection, the term “cargo” does not include crude oil with respect to Alaska.
(3)For purposes of this subsection, the term “United States mainland” means the continental United States (not including Alaska).
(c)No tax shall be imposed under this subchapter with respect to the loading or unloading of any cargo on or from a vessel if any fuel of such vessel has been (or will be) subject to the tax imposed by section 4042 (relating to tax on fuel used in commercial transportation on inland waterways).
(d)The tax imposed by section 4461(a) shall not apply to any port use with respect to any commercial cargo to be exported from the United States.
(e)No tax shall be imposed under this subchapter on the United States or any agency or instrumentality thereof.
(f)(1)Except to the extent otherwise provided in regulations, all administrative and enforcement provisions of customs laws and regulations shall apply in respect of the tax imposed by this subchapter (and in respect of persons liable therefor) as if such tax were a customs duty. For purposes of the preceding sentence, any penalty expressed in terms of a relationship to the amount of the duty shall be treated as not less than the amount which bears a similar relationship to the value of the cargo.
(2)For purposes of determining the jurisdiction of any court of the United States or any agency of the United States, the tax imposed by this subchapter shall be treated as if such tax were a customs duty.
(3)The tax imposed by this subchapter shall not be treated as a tax for purposes of subtitle F or any other provision of law relating to the administration and enforcement of internal revenue taxes.
(g)Except as provided by regulations—
(1)Only 1 tax shall be imposed under section 4461(a) with respect to the loading on and unloading from, or the unloading from and the loading on, the same vessel of the same cargo.
(2)Under regulations, no tax shall be imposed under section 4461(a) on the mere movement of cargo within a port.
(3)Only 1 tax shall be imposed under section 4461(a) on cargo (moving under a single bill of lading) which is unloaded from one vessel and loaded onto another vessel at any port in the United States for relay to or from any port in Alaska, Hawaii, or any possession of the United States. For purposes of this paragraph, the term “cargo” does not include any item not treated as cargo under subsection (b)(2).
(h)No tax shall be imposed under this subchapter on any nonprofit organization or cooperative for cargo which is owned or financed by such nonprofit organization or cooperative and which is certified by the United States Customs Service as intended for use in humanitarian or development assistance overseas.
(i)The Secretary may prescribe such additional regulations as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this subchapter including, but not limited to, regulations—
(1)providing for the manner and method of payment and collection of the tax imposed by this subchapter,
(2)providing for the posting of bonds to secure payment of such tax,
(3)exempting any transaction or class of transactions from such tax where the collection of such tax is not administratively practical, and
(4)providing for the remittance or mitigation of penalties and the settlement or compromise of claims.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
Prior Provisions
For prior section 4462, see
Prior Provisions
note set out preceding section 4471 of this title.
Amendments
2005—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 109–59 amended heading and text of subsec. (d) generally, substituting provisions relating to nonapplicability of tax imposed by section 4461(a) to exports for provisions relating to nonapplicability of tax imposed by section 4461(a) to bonded commercial cargo entering the United States for transportation and direct exportation to a foreign country and inapplicability of this provision to certain cargo exported to Canada or Mexico. 1996—Subsec. (b)(1)(D). Pub. L. 104–188 inserted before period at end “, or passengers transported on United States flag vessels operating solely within the State waters of Alaska or Hawaii and adjacent international waters”. 1988—Subsec. (b)(1)(B). Pub. L. 100–647, § 2002(b), amended subpar. (B) generally. Prior to amendment, subpar. (B) read as follows: “cargo loaded on a vessel in Alaska, Hawaii, or any possession of the United States for transportation to the United States mainland for ultimate use or consumption in the United States mainland,”. Subsec. (g)(3). Pub. L. 100–647, § 6110(a), added par. (3). Subsecs. (h), (i). Pub. L. 100–647, § 6109(a), added subsec. (h) and redesignated former subsec. (h) as (i).
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
of 2005 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 109–59 effective before, on, and after Aug. 10, 2005, see section 11116(c) of Pub. L. 109–59, set out as a note under section 4461 of this title.
Effective Date
of 1996 Amendment Pub. L. 104–188, title I, § 1704(i)(2), Aug. 20, 1996, 110 Stat. 1881, provided that: “The amendment made by paragraph (1) [amending this section] shall take effect as if included in the
Amendments
made by section 1402(a) of the Harbor Maintenance Revenue Act of 1986 [Pub. L. 99–662, title XIV].”
Effective Date
of 1988 AmendmentAmendment by section 2002(b) of Pub. L. 100–647 effective as if included in the provision of the Harbor Maintenance Revenue Act of 1986, Pub. L. 99–662, title XIV, to which it relates, see section 2002(d) of Pub. L. 100–647, set out as a note under section 4042 of this title. Pub. L. 100–647, title VI, § 6109(b), Nov. 10, 1988, 102 Stat. 3712, provided that: “The amendment made by subsection (a) [amending this section] shall take effect on April 1, 1987.” Pub. L. 100–647, title VI, § 6110(b), Nov. 10, 1988, 102 Stat. 3713, provided that: “The amendment made by this section [amending this section] shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act [Nov. 10, 1988].”
Effective Date
Section effective Apr. 1, 1987, see section 1402(c) of Pub. L. 99–662, set out as a note under section 4461 of this title.
Transfer of Functions
For
Transfer of Functions
, personnel, assets, and liabilities of the United States Customs Service of the Department of the Treasury, including functions of the Secretary of the Treasury relating thereto, to the Secretary of Homeland Security, and for treatment of related references, see section 203(1), 551(d), 552(d), and 557 of Title 6, Domestic Security, and the Department of Homeland Security Reorganization Plan of November 25, 2002, as modified, set out as a note under section 542 of Title 6. For establishment of U.S. Customs and Border Protection in the Department of Homeland Security, treated as if included in Pub. L. 107–296 as of Nov. 25, 2002, see section 211 of Title 6, as amended generally by Pub. L. 114–125, and section 802(b) of Pub. L. 114–125, set out as a note under section 211 of Title 6.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
26 U.S.C. § 4462
Title 26 — Internal Revenue Code
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73